Orana Catholic Primary School
Term 2, Week 11, 2021.
TO GIVE IS TO RECEIVE
Generosity is an attitude of freely sharing our ideas and talents and giving our time generously. We show generosity by being welcoming, inclusive and promoting a sense of belonging.
Holiday Prayer
Lord, bless each member of our families.
As we begin our holidays, watch over us and protect us.
Grant us your wisdom, your grace
and the strength to live lives of goodness.
Help us to honour each other with words of respect,
forgiveness and love.
To listen with the heart as well as the head.
To give and not count the cost.
To be patient and persevering when all seems lost.
Bless my family, Lord, each one of us this day.
Bless and protect us.
Amen
Dear Parents and Carers,
As we come to the end of Term 2, it is important to reflect on the growth that we have experienced this term. This would not be possible without the relationships that we value and promote between students, parents, community members, staff and parish. We are very lucky at our school that all are focused on collaborating effectively and genuinely for the benefit of our students. Thank you to all for your contributions this term in and out of school whether it be preparing children for the day ahead, assisting with school activities or collaborating to assist in achieving positive outcomes for students.
Furthermore, thank-you to all parents and carers that have assisted in following the lockdown procedures for drop off and pick up. Your patience and consideration of others, as students get in and out of cars, is appreciated. It has been terrific to see our students display independence in carrying their bags and walking to class and greeting staff with lovely manners. I wish to thank the Orana staff for their commitment and care to our students. The staff have willingly made themselves available both before and after school, rain, hail or shine.
At times, holidays present some challenges and alternatively many opportunities. Hopefully we as parents, can find opportunities for some space and time over the holiday period. I came across the quote below from Maggie Dent’s website on the value of play and the link to readiness for learning. It made me think of my childhood and the times of boredom that were turned into opportunities to create and problem solve. I have fond memories of building a BMX jump in a bush block with my siblings and neighbours. These days, our kids have less freedom in the neighbourhood which poses the question of how we can seize opportunities for creativity, risk taking (in a safe environment), problem solving and collaborating. A wealth of information is available on Maggie Dent's website. https://www.maggiedent.com/
“Many children played and learned in the streets, woods and fields without the looming presence of adults and albeit well-meaning coaches. Their experiences were real, varied and enormously engaging. These hands-on or concrete experiences with the real world prepared the brain for learning. What may have seemed to be unstructured play had a very serious purpose. It allowed children to discover the underlying rules and patterns that organise and make sense of the world. It may have set up a filing system for the storage and retrieval of information. Many of today’s children are starved of real life experiences.”
— Gayle Gregory and Terence Parry, Designing Brain Compatible Learning (2006).
Unfortunately, our Orana Day Mass and celebrations were postponed. We have rescheduled Orana Day for Friday 23th July. We will now plan to have Mass, followed by the mini fair activities, the staff / Year 6 volleyball match and the graduation fundraising lunch on Friday in Week 1.
The Term 3 Planner can be found on our website. https://www.orana.wa.edu.au/calendar/
Any changes or updates will be added to the Events Calendar, also on our website.
Have a safe and happy holiday.
God bless and take care,
Dee Johnston
Principal
Term 3 News
Reverse Lunch
Beginning Term Three, Orana Catholic Primary School will be trialling a different looking lunch break. We will be reversing lunch eating and play. Students will play first and then eat.
Playtime: 12.40-1.05pm
Siren: 1.05pm
Eating: 1.10-1.20pm
The purpose of this change is to allow children to get exercise and movement when needed. After this period, they will be hungry and ready to sit and enjoy their food without feeling the need to either rush eating or not eat at all, in order to get out and play.
We realise that eating time is later. Our kindy students already eat later and students would have also eaten at recess or snacked on their ‘crunch and sip’ in class. This has been a successful change in other schools.
Eating Areas
Eating areas will also be altered to reduce the noise and to encourage eating in a more calm and respectful manner. Weather permitting, Year 1 and 2 students will in the quad, Year 3 and 4 students on the benches / basketball court side of the classrooms, Year 5 in the OSHC outdoor area and Year 6 in their benched area. Students will be in smaller groups which will encourage positive social interaction and greater responsibility for their own rubbish / recycling and eating areas.
Optional Pre-primary Pick-up at the Green Shed
We are going to trial introducing the option for Pre-primary student pick-up at the Green Shed in the afternoons. Parents will need to opt in for the days that they will collect their child using the drive through pick up line, via a permission form. Students will be escorted to the green shed and supervised. More information will follow.
Dates To Remember
TERM 2 - WEEK 11
Friday 2nd July - Last day of Term 2
TERM 3 - WEEK 1
Monday 19th July - Pupil Free Day
Tuesday 20th July - First day of Term 3 for students
Thursday, 22nd July - Catholic Performing Arts Opening Mass
Friday 23rd July - Orana Day and the Feast of Saints John and Paul (see below for details)
Friday 23rd July - Graduation Fundraising Lunch
Faith In Action
Orana Day – the Feast of Saints John and Paul - Friday: Term 3, Week 1
On the Friday of Term 3, 23rd July, we will celebrate Orana Day. This day acknowledges our Parish connection of Saints John and Paul and the history we share of Orana Catholic Primary School.
This year, we will celebrate Mass at 9.30am in the hall. During this Mass, we pray for our school community including the very special members who have been affected by events this year. The priest celebrating our Mass will pray a blessing on the community of Orana Catholic Primary School. Parents are most welcome to come and celebrate Mass with us, pending Covid guidelines in Term 3.
Following this, our classes have coordinated a Mini-Fair that will be held around the school from 11.30am to lunch time. Each class will hold a stall. Families are asked to make a donation on that day. The money raised will go towards LifeLink. See attached link: https://lifelink.com.au stalls during the mini-fair do not require any payment other than an initial donation at the beginning of the day.
Our Graduation Committee's lunch day has been postponed to this day also. This will be followed by a volleyball match between staff and our Year 6 Leaders. There is lots to look forward to in Term 3!
Care Packages - Year 3
3W are making care packages for the homeless and we need donations! We need non-perishable items eg.pretzels, ready made popcorn, and crackers. Towards the end of Term 3, we will create care packages out of these items and donate them to the homeless.
From our Parish of Saints John & Paul
Please visit the Parish website for the latest information on weekend Masses.
Social Justice Group
Social Justice Plant Sale
Thank you to everyone who supported our Plant Sale. We raised an amazing $1036! That will enable us to purchase lots of meals to help those in need. A great job by all.
Nights are getting Colder
As we are all aware, the nights are getting very cold. The Social Justice Group would like to help those who are in need by collecting warm blankets, beanies, gloves and socks. If you have any of the above items that are spare and you no longer need them, you can drop them off in the 4W classroom and we will give them to the Homelessness We Care organisers. We ask that they be in reasonable condition and clean. We thank everyone for your support with this project.
P & F News
Hello Orana,
We are happy to announce that we have been successful in our grant application for a St John Ambulance defibrillator equipment. This will be installed at a publicly accessible location where it can benefit our community. I would like to personally thank Cory O’Kane, Amanda Walker, Deborah Goodwin, and Dee Johnston for their effort with this grant.
We are still looking for volunteers to help to be a part of the Disco Committee, which we have planned to take place in early September, 2021. So, if you are keen to get involved or wanting to know more, please reach out to myself, the P&F Execs, or e-mail at oranapandf@gmail.com.
Discussions are also ongoing on the automatic gate project and the pick up shelter for the pick-up/drop off area at the back of the school. We have obtained a number of quotes, and will be discussing at the next P & F meeting, which is scheduled on Tuesday, 10th August 2021 at 6.30pm, at the school library.
We have been busy planning our Parent & Children Camping Activity, and we’re happy to announce the event will be held on 14-15 August 2021 – please join us for an overnight camping adventure. There will be optional activities such as wall climbing, disc golf, indoor movie, bush walking, and basketball to participate in, and of course there will be a camp fire! This is not a school event and as this is an off-site activity, you will be responsible for your own children’s supervision throughout the event. For further details please click on the link for the flyer.
Thank you Orana for another good week!
Lost Property Sale
When: Term 3, Week 1: Tuesday, 20th July and Thursday, 22nd July
Where: Quad
Time: After School
All money raised will go towards LifeLink.
Oval Parking
ICAS Testing
This year the school will be a venue for ICAS Testing. ICAS testing is separate to the standardised assessments undertaken here. We understand some parents would like their children to participate in Writing, Digital Technology, English, Science, Spelling Bee and Mathematics testing. The school will offer the testing venue, setting up of iPads and supervision of tests. A direct payment plan to ICAS will be set up once we receive expressions of interest.
For further information, please explore the link below:
To send the school an expression of interest through Microsoft Forms:
https://forms.office.com/r/DZPKVtsHAU
Dates, payment and other information will be distributed at the start of of Term 3.
Lyn
Lyn Perrigo
Teacher Librarian/DT Lead
Orana Catholic Primary School
SOCIAL WORKER NEWS
Self-confidence originates from a perception of competence — or, to put it more simply, children develop confidence not because family and friends praise them, but because of their own accomplishments. As a preschool teacher, I watched many children became more confident and self-assured as they learned and completed new tasks and goals.
Kath Warburton
Social Worker
OSHC News
Grounds / Maintenance News
School Banking
School Banking day is Wednesday. Please bring bank books to the office each Wednesday morning. We are not able to securely store personal bank books, so they must be brought in every Wednesday and will be returned on Wednesday afternoon.
2021 Professional Development Days Reminder
The following dates are pupil free days for 2021. For your future planning OSHC will offer a full day program on these dates.
Monday 19th July - Future Focussed Learning Professional Development
Friday 24th September – Catholic Day
Monday 11th October – Data Analysis Professional Development and Wellbeing Session